When considering my education, one must understand my family life at home. My family life is so intertwined with my scholastic life that to only examine my school career would leave many questions and holes. Part of this entanglement is due to the fact that my mother made many sacrifices to put me through private Catholic school from kindergarten to the eighth grade. The other part of the connection is when I had to move around frequently due to my sister’s heath condition. My home life cannot be separated from my educational career, due to unique circumstances.
My home life was a very stressful, and lonely, situation for me during my childhood and early education, which only became worse with time. My mother worked her day job as an East Bay Community Action Program (Head Start) preschool teacher. She also had a night job as a babysitter for the Australian Embassy and for other local families in Newport; this is also in addition to all the extra hours of work that she put in at Head Start. When my sister was born it was a hard transition for me because I already hardly ever saw my mom, because she worked so hard to put me into Catholic schools. Then my sister was diagnosed with Leukemia while I was in January of the eighth grade. Because of my sister’s illness and her young age (she was two-years-old) my mother had to dedicate more time to her. The treatment for her condition continued into my sophomore year of high school. I felt I was being cheated out of more time, and that I needed to compete for her attention. In addition to this new struggle I had just begun a new school, as my old school was not a good environment.
The change in middle schools was extremely necessary. My old middle school had turned into a place of torture for me as I was mercilessly teased and made fun of because my grades were not the best and because of the way I looked. In addition, someone had threatened my life and the school did nothing, even when the restraining order was placed on the other student. Other wise up until that point I had done just fine but I was not the best student; I only did enough to just get by with a B. The new school that I went to was much harder, and had more rigorous course work. In spite the harder course work I truly improved my grades honestly through hard work. I was now actually trying in my classes; this in part was my way of competing for my mother’s attention. It was also my way of making sure that I was okay, immersing myself in my work. This was the time when all my teachers were preparing for me to do worse because of my sister’s condition. I surprised everyone however when my grades improved and stayed high. During the times my grades improved I was also moving around a lot.
When my sister was hospitalized I stayed with my grandparents mostly, so I still lived in Portsmouth, but a different area. However, when my sister relapsed in 2007, during my junior year of high school, I lived in 4 different homes. I lived with my uncle, a family friend, my grandparents, and when times were good I lived in my own home. My grades my junior year slipped a bit but that did not really affect my GPA as I had already adopted the system of trying as hard as I could at school. This stemmed from my experience with my sister and how my grades improved during one of the worst times of my life. My mother always taught me to do my best and to work my hardest; she not only taught me this she exemplified it in all that she did. She was a single mother working two or more jobs, with two children, and she raised me to have values and be respectful. She did her best with the situation given and I truly believe that she is the only reason I am at URI now, because she showed me and taught to me that not doing your best when you are young makes it so much harder to do well in your adult life.
Due to the fact that my home life was so complex and so intertwined with my school life there is no way to separate my scholastic and personal life. Because my mom worked so much, and because of my sister’s diagnosis I did not spend as much time with her as I saw many others did. Because of this I learned to be self motivated with my school work and was able to learn at a young age how easy doing better in school was as well as how beneficial it was.
Wow Cynthia, you do a nice job of painting a picture of a very challenging childhood. Looking back, what did your childhood teach you about yourself? - fogleman Oct 6, 2010
Cynthia Kirchner
The Effect of My Family Life on My Education
When considering my education, one must understand my family life at home. My family life is so intertwined with my scholastic life that to only examine my school career would leave many questions and holes. Part of this entanglement is due to the fact that my mother made many sacrifices to put me through private Catholic school from kindergarten to the eighth grade. The other part of the connection is when I had to move around frequently due to my sister’s heath condition. My home life cannot be separated from my educational career, due to unique circumstances.
My home life was a very stressful, and lonely, situation for me during my childhood and early education, which only became worse with time. My mother worked her day job as an East Bay Community Action Program (Head Start) preschool teacher. She also had a night job as a babysitter for the Australian Embassy and for other local families in Newport; this is also in addition to all the extra hours of work that she put in at Head Start. When my sister was born it was a hard transition for me because I already hardly ever saw my mom, because she worked so hard to put me into Catholic schools. Then my sister was diagnosed with Leukemia while I was in January of the eighth grade. Because of my sister’s illness and her young age (she was two-years-old) my mother had to dedicate more time to her. The treatment for her condition continued into my sophomore year of high school. I felt I was being cheated out of more time, and that I needed to compete for her attention. In addition to this new struggle I had just begun a new school, as my old school was not a good environment.
The change in middle schools was extremely necessary. My old middle school had turned into a place of torture for me as I was mercilessly teased and made fun of because my grades were not the best and because of the way I looked. In addition, someone had threatened my life and the school did nothing, even when the restraining order was placed on the other student. Other wise up until that point I had done just fine but I was not the best student; I only did enough to just get by with a B. The new school that I went to was much harder, and had more rigorous course work. In spite the harder course work I truly improved my grades honestly through hard work. I was now actually trying in my classes; this in part was my way of competing for my mother’s attention. It was also my way of making sure that I was okay, immersing myself in my work. This was the time when all my teachers were preparing for me to do worse because of my sister’s condition. I surprised everyone however when my grades improved and stayed high. During the times my grades improved I was also moving around a lot.
When my sister was hospitalized I stayed with my grandparents mostly, so I still lived in Portsmouth, but a different area. However, when my sister relapsed in 2007, during my junior year of high school, I lived in 4 different homes. I lived with my uncle, a family friend, my grandparents, and when times were good I lived in my own home. My grades my junior year slipped a bit but that did not really affect my GPA as I had already adopted the system of trying as hard as I could at school. This stemmed from my experience with my sister and how my grades improved during one of the worst times of my life. My mother always taught me to do my best and to work my hardest; she not only taught me this she exemplified it in all that she did. She was a single mother working two or more jobs, with two children, and she raised me to have values and be respectful. She did her best with the situation given and I truly believe that she is the only reason I am at URI now, because she showed me and taught to me that not doing your best when you are young makes it so much harder to do well in your adult life.
Due to the fact that my home life was so complex and so intertwined with my school life there is no way to separate my scholastic and personal life. Because my mom worked so much, and because of my sister’s diagnosis I did not spend as much time with her as I saw many others did. Because of this I learned to be self motivated with my school work and was able to learn at a young age how easy doing better in school was as well as how beneficial it was.
Wow Cynthia, you do a nice job of painting a picture of a very challenging childhood. Looking back, what did your childhood teach you about yourself? -